The murder trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has begun in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
The much anticipated start to South Africa’s crime of the Century began this morning as all great occasions do with a small fumble by the court.
The trial was delayed while court officials searched for an Afrikaans translator.
The case is being tweeted live by our sister newspaper the Pretoria Moot Rekord. They can be followed on the following Twitter link: @RekordNewspaper
Pistorius shot and killed his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines Day last year. His murder trial is expected to run until March 20.
The family of Oscar Pistorius will support him through his trial. The family released a statement on Saturday.
According to Pistorius’s uncle Arnold the family as well as the legal team, will not be distracted by extraneous issues that have no bearing on, or relevance to, the legal process that must now be allowed to unfold.
“We will not be commenting on any media reports, nor will we be engaging in the press with any issues that belong in court. The time for public commentary is over.”
Arnold said the focus is now entirely on a very serious trial that is set to start this Monday.
”We love Oscar, and believe in him, and will be standing by him throughout the coming trial.”
Among the 107 witnesses expected to enter the dock are Pistorius’s sister Aimee, his uncle Arnold, former police investigator Hilton Botha, and residents of the Silver Woods Country Estate in Pretoria where he lived.
Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa will preside over the Pistorius murder trial.
According to reports Masipa was a crime reporter whose stories often told of the indignities of life under apartheid and went on to become an advocate in her late forties.
She was named a judge in the Transvaal division in 1998, becoming only the second black woman on the Bench after former Constitutional Court judge Yvonne Mokgoro.
Our sister newspaper the Pretoria Moot Rekord will have a dedicated journalist attending the trial, bringing you the latest breaking news as it happens in, and outside of court.
All photos by Corné van Zyl
Gallery here
